America's other Audubon

Kiser, a writer/editor and former librarian, recounts the story behind a remarkable yet little-known work, Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio, and reproduces the illustrations found therein. In 1878, Genevieve "Gennie" Jones, encouraged and supported in her efforts by her family and friends, began an ambitious project to publish illustrations and descriptions of the nests and eggs of all 130 species of birds that nested in Ohio. Tragically, she died of typhoid fever after completing only five illustrations. Her family continued the project as a memorial to their beloved Gennie. Her mother, Virginia, studied nests and eggs in order to reproduce them accurately, and continued the work after her own bout with typhoid fever left her with weakened eyes and severe pain caused by eyestrain. Gennie's father spent all of his retirement savings to publish the volume. Only 26 complete copies of the work are known to exist today. Kiser's book now brings the Jones's labor of love to everyone. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers, lower-division undergraduates through researchers/faculty, and professionals. A. J. Scripa Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

These are exceptional and heretofore almost unknown late 19th-century color paintings of birds' nests and eggs by an obscure Ohio family. Begun by Genevieve Jones, who died young, it was eventually completed by her brother Howard, mother Virginia, and friend Eliza Schulze. This book is essentially by them, a reissue of an 1886 title of which only 90 copies were printed. Kiser, a former librarian resurrected this work and contributes a compelling introduction. The nest paintings, aside from their stunning accuracy, are works of art in their own right. The accompanying detailed notes and paintings of the eggs are more in the nature of a scientific contribution at a time when there were no guides to such. Combined with, as Yeats might say, their "antique joy," these paintings charm and delight. Utilizing-in the clunky style of those days-lithography and its rather excruciating hand-coloring process and special hot-pressed paper, these authors created a labor-intensive labor of love, here reproduced at full size (11" x 17"), with the nests and eggs depicted in life-size scale. VERDICT This will especially appeal to naturalists and art historians. Highly recommended.-Henry T. Armistead, formerly with Free Lib. of Philadelphia (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.